Good weekend to you all, fellas. Here's the thing: I recorded a drummer who has a light touch on the cymbals. I didn't really see to it in the recording process because cymbals are the most salient thing in a drum recording and spill is all around, right? Wrong! The stereo overhead track has a great definition and balance of all drums and well defined hi hat and ride, but the cymbals are buried. Any EQ or dynamics change affects the whole drum sound. My first thought would be to add cymbal samples to blend in at the right places, but I suspect the trick will be noticeable. The song is a post-grunge garage-like vibe which will be subdued if enhancements are spotted. For sure, the drummer will notice. I've also tried feeding a send from the overhead track to an auxiliary and automate volume. Then I tried to mute/unmute the cymbals from the rest, but the sustain of the cymbals gets blended with the other elements of the drumkit, and cutting before the snare hits kills the cymbal sound, yet leaving the cymbals to develop their full sustain makes the snare and hi hat stand out too much. No way to make another take.

What would you do?

Peace,

Carlos

BTW, I'll try sound replacement right now, using Steven Slate Drums 4 and see what happens. I'll keep you posted.

The recording rider:

01 Sennheiser e602 bass drum mic
02 Sennheiser BF504 tom mics for rack and floor toms
01 Shure SM 57 for snare drum
01 AudioTechnica 4050 on HiHat
02 Shure SM81 overheads
01 MXL 2001 room mic at 1.5 meters from the kit at a height between the bass drum and the rack tom

 

If u cant solve your problem with gating and equing, then this is the second THING that pops in to my mind and this GEM

 

Sometimes the best thing is to rerecord. It 'hurt' but solve your problem and drummer satisfaction. Other is to 'play' with mid and side or mid side eqs, m aybe ephasize the snare in overheads and reduce the snare track volume. The magic word is to experiment. Experiment with enhancers, saturators. Now i mix an exagerated hihat in recorded OHs tracks and was almost corrected via Soniformer compression in that zone with uncoupled channels. I wish you luck.

 

I would try this way ( jump to 11:05 )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uznFOBJzOvs

 

check if everything is in phase and like was set before getting

 

You could try exciters, or Quickquak mashtactic/Freiraum EQ to bring out more of the attacks/noise in the cymbals.

 

Highpass filter.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T63MGbKN6uU

 

Are there any isolated cymbal hits during the recording?
Sample those?